Tokugawa Clan

The third unifier, and probably the only sane one between the trio (because Nobunaga is like the personification of evil, Hideyoshi is... freakin' nuts). Unlike the fat turd that most fictions portray, Ieyasu here is somewhat of a Bratty Half-Pint, but despite that possesses quite a lot of wisdom and virtue and love for his people. While not much of a fighter, he makes it up with his humongously powerful retainer Honda Tadakatsu.

However, Capcom decided to poke fun at his days of being the hostage of Imagawa, thus turning him into James Bondage extraordinaire, especially in Tadakatsu's story where everyone races to kidnap Ieyasu (and him getting kidnapped is a gimmick when playing as Tadakatsu in the fighting game). He's unplayable in both the first and second games, but the Expansion Pack made him playable and gave him a non-James Bondage role as Motochika's friend, but he has no story mode.

It isn't until SB3 (and consequently the second season of the anime) that he finally becomes a full-blown grown man, gets past his James Bondage tendencies and is now punching people out on the guts with his fist. He successfully slays Hideyoshi, but then had to deal with Hideyoshi's fanatical follower Ishida Mitsunari, leading up to the decisive battle at Sekigahara.

Battle Discretion Shot: His battle with Hideyoshi in the SB3 intro takes place off-screen while we follow Mitsunari's point-of-view, who only arrives after Hideyoshi is dead. Exactly how the battle went down is unknown, although Ieyasu (obviously) won.

Blade on a Stick: His first weapon, discarded in favor of a new fighting style. In his pre-battle cutscene with Yukimura in the fourth game, Yukimura tosses one of his spears at Ieyasu, who proceeds to catch it and uses it to spar with him a bit.

And while for all intents and purposes he's an adult, Shingen still addresses him as Takechiyo, which is his childhood name.

Lampshaded in 3, where his previously reverent soldiers immediately go into mother-hen mode when "Takechiyo-sama" is apparently kidnapped by the Hojo, and they, led by Tadakatsu, wrecked the whole castle... only to find Ieyasu just hanging out to take in the flower-viewing.

Honor Before Reason: "The Tokugawa never betrays a promise, even to the Demon King himself". It just takes the next episode in the anime to finally make him screw that.

Hypocrite: His rhetorics are mainly about the power of bonds, yet by betraying and killing Hideyoshi he severed his own bond with Mitsunari and other Toyotomi retainers. Justified as if Hideyoshi was left alone, he would have made everything worse for Japan with his lust for power and Might Makes Right philosophy.

In the Hood: He wears a boxing hoodie by the third game. When he puts it on with his taunt, the charge time for his attacks is decreased.

Intergenerational Friendship: With Ujimasa. His friendship with Motochika may also count since they've been friends since Ieyasu was still a kid and Motochika was already an adult at the time.

Invulnerable Knuckles: Averted - he fights with his fists specifically so that he too feels pain, and his soldiers talk about giving them medical attention.

Irony: Here he's good friends with Motochika, while in history he basically ended the Chosokabe bloodline by executing Motochika's son Morichika and his family following the battle of Tennoji.

Kid With The Remote Control: For Tadakatsu. Lampshaded by just about everybody complaining that he has no right to Tadakatsu's loyalty.

Knuckle Cracking: In his revamped design, he cracks his knuckles dramatically before executing his Basara attack.

Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Made all the stranger since it apparently happened naturally, but none of the other characters have changed at all. More unusual is the fact that he retains said appearance in the fourth game, which is canonically a prequel.

Power Fist: His new weapons in SB3 are his fists, equipped with special gloves.

The Power of Friendship: His main theme in Sengoku Basara 3 is "unifying the land with the power of bonds". However, he might seem a bit of a hypocrite, as he actually destroys many bonds along the way. At least he's aware of this, with the fourth game depicting him as being concerned that he's simply using others for his own goals.

Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Mitsunari Red. As he prefer more calmer and sociable approach. He is the most reasonable toward his approach than Mitsunari recklessness.

Stockholm Syndrome: Becomes best friends with Chosokabe Motochika, who happens to be one of his kidnappers. Then the third game suddenly subverts it when Ieyasu attacks Motochika's territory after killing Hideyoshi, ultimately straining their relationship. Then subverted again as it turns out it was Kanbe's doing, with Motonari and Yoshitsugu behind it.

Took a Level in Badass: Come SB3, he is now grown up, with a revamped fighting style and having effectively beaten the tar out of Hideyoshi.

Unexplained Recovery: In the anime. After we saw Nobunaga's soldiers stab him to death on-screen in season one, too. Don't ask us how that happened.

Use Your Head: His Super Art, "Hard Head". Absurd damage, knocks down even enemy commanders, and hits enemy on ground when fully charged. Commanders can be taken out in seconds with it.

Walking Shirtless Scene: That vest of his is pretty much all he wears above the waist. And his alternate look in both SB3 and SB4 removes the crop top.

We Can Rule Together: As his plan is to "unite the country through the power of bonds", he tries a non-villainous take on this on a large number of characters to try to avoid fighting them, up to and including Mitsunari. Gets especially egregious in Yukimura's SB3 campaign, where Ieyasu offers Yukimura a place at his side after Yukimura has already beat him up and scattered the Eastern army.

What the Hell, Hero?: In the third game, Toshiie accused him of kidnapping Matsu so the Maeda will be Neutral No Longer and join him. Ieyasu is flabbergasted because he never gave such orders. In fact, Yoshiaki was the one who did it, to empower the Eastern Army and earn Ieyasu's favour.

Zero-Approval Gambit: In his drama route in the fourth game, he willing takes the blame for Hideyoshi's death since Hisahide died along with him, Ieyasu believes that without someone to exact vengeance upon Mitsunari will lose the will to live, or worse.

One of Sengoku Basara's most ridiculous, yet fricking awesome, presentations. Tadakatsu is a...uh...Gundam. Or just a Humongous Mechain the middle of ancient Japan. He doesn't speak and mostly lets his massive ass-kicking capabilities do the talking. He's also unfailingly loyal to Ieyasu.

Bonus Boss: Defeating Tadakatsu in a straight fight is generally optional and highly discouraged due to his massive health and attack power, though you'll generally be awarded with bonus XP for doing so. The player is generally given a way to deal with him, usually involving weakening him, outrunning him or just firing cannons at him. Alternatively, defeat Ieyasu and the stage ends.

Cyborg: Possibly. It's very vague, but he does seem to have a face with skin, and everyone treats him more like a human being than a robot.

Electronic Eye: One of his eyes glows red when he's activated. It may act as a scouter.

Frozen Face: Said face is locked in a single expression that never changes. He is able to move his eyes, but that's it.

Lightning Bruiser: Thanks to his Gundam-ish features, he's both quick and MEGA POWERFUL. He's a bit difficult to steer in combat though since his normal combo has him slide around. His "Heavy Mode" makes him a full-on Mighty Glacier though.

The Silent Bob: Despite him only communicating in either mechanical whirs or total silence, other characters seem to understand him perfectly well and even make casual conversation with him.

Becomes ridiculous in one Utage cutscene where Ieyasu tells him "don't look at me like that!", when Tadakatsu's face hasn't changed at all from the Perpetual Expression it's always been.

Silent Partner: Ieyasu tends to chatter away during the times when Tadakatsu would otherwise be expected to say something. He'll even call out his Basara attack.

Shoulder Cannon: He can whip out a pair of cannons from his shoulders to fire away at his enemies.

Smash Mook: He has the smallest number of directly offensive special moves and he telegraphs his attacks: It's usually not very hard to figure out what he's going to do next. Stopping it, on the other hand.

Spirited Competitor: About the only thing that can make him ignore Ieyasu's command is when he finds a Worthy Opponent to fight (such as Yukimura in the anime, and Yoshihiro in the games).

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